Molly Tumanic

Music, beer and student politics were the main attractions at Autumn Groove, the musical festival held Saturday at Mount Simon Park.

Despite rain Saturday morning, the event went smoothly and was well attended by students and community members.

“This is a damn good turnout,” said senior Randy Lusk, a member of Students for a Sensible Drug Policy.

SSDP, which organized the festival, focuses on U.S. drug legislation and advocates less jail time and more treatment alternatives for drug abusers.

Six bands played at the event on a small stage with tie-dyed banners hanging on the large speakers at both ends of the stage. Blue tarps protected the speakers from the rain that came down throughout the day.

Students and community members stood in front of the stage, some swinging to the music and dancing, and others sitting on blankets.

Ages varied throughout the crowd.

To one side of the stage, the beer garden was packed with people taking advantage of the drink specials.

In the shelter facing the stage, a few student organizations set up picnic tables and spread out petitions for concertgoers to read and sign.

“We hope these people listen to what Amnesty’s for and get angry,” the co-president of UW-Eau Claire Amnesty International Rebecca Malke said. “We have the power to take action.”

Malke, who graduated last December, went to Autumn Groove armed with petitions to heads of state asking for the release of political prisoners whom Amnesty believes were wrongly imprisoned and should be freed.

Petitions included the request to release an environmental journalist who discovered an illegal dumping of radioactive material into the Sea of Japan, and also a special request to Yasser Arafat to end suicide bombings in Israel.

Amnesty International claims that one out of three prisoners that have a petition sent in on their behalf get released, Malke said.

Promoting Awareness/Victim Empowerment, a campus organization that seeks to inform students about sexual abuse, was at Autumn Groove to get more supporters for their organization.

PAVE was also promoting its music festival, Musica Canafreeya, scheduled for Sept. 28 and 29 at the House of Rock, 422 Water St.

PAVE’s festival will feature music by Day Old Bread, a band that played a set at Autumn Groove.

The Campus Greens, a campus political party, had their chairperson, Richard “Louie” Lewan, speak about its policies that relate to SSDP’s policies.

Lewan spoke mostly on government action taken after Sept. 11, decrying the legislation as illogical and ineffective.

“Our government has delivered a major blow to the civil liberties and freedoms of its citizens through the passage of the U.S.A. Patriot Act,” Lewan said.

Aside from the organizations, the emcee of the festival was Barton Black, a political poet.

Black has appeared at the Acoustic Caf‚, 505 S. Barstow St., for Poetry Slams.

When you get up on stage and say anything, you are “planting seeds in people’s heads,” Black said. The seeds may not sprout right away in all people, but they’ve heard the message, and they have something to think about.

Black’s poetry was an integral part of Autumn Groove. He performed between the musical acts and his work is about issues the organizations at the festival are concerned with.

Black spoke about his views on child labor, the prison system and the “drug war” in America.

Black urges people “to be participants in their lives and not spectators.”

“Believing in a cause isn’t good enough,” Black said. “You’ve got to act.”

Black said festivals like Autumn Groove are a great way to mix politics with a good time. “When politics and music mix, it’s a powerful combination.”